Being Christian by Rowan Williams


Baptism: Week of Jan. 7th

  1. Solidarity with all people is a major emphasis of this chapter. Focus on the phrases describing solidarity that resonated most with you. Spend time praying with these phrases and concepts. What do you notice in that prayer?

  2. Contemplate Williams’ connection to baptism with the vocation of being prophetic, priestly and royal in the world. Does one of these three seem to come more naturally to you? Does another offer specific challenges? Can you think of someone in the community who has gifts you don’t have and may have weaknesses you don’t? How does baptism connect all of us in our unique gifting?

  3. Williams uses the phrase “taking down the shutters” when he describes repentance. Do you have a preferred phrase or idea when you contemplate the need for forgiveness? How does baptism and its association with “getting in the mud” and to actually “be contaminated” with the chaos of the world challenge concepts of repentance that removes Christians from engaging humanity in love and presence?


Bible: Week of January 14th
One of the most common conversations I’ve had as a pastor is how to relate to scripture in light of how much harm has been done to peoples lives by using the Bible in controlling and manipulative ways. One of the reasons I keep suggesting this particular book for St. Mary’s is the way Rowan Williams presents and invites us into a healthy and living relationship with the Bible together with one another, those who have read scripture before us, and those who are within the biblical narratives themselves. I highly recommend this chapter to anyone struggling with their relationship with the Bible. 

  1. Williams describes how scriptures have been heard more than read throughout history. How does the image of a group of people listening together to scripture provide possible healing from the concept of a solitary person sitting and reading the Bible while disconnected from others? Have you considered how new it is in human and church history for everyone to be able to have their own Bible and spend more time with it alone than in community? Have you considered how this way of being with scripture necessitates a certain amount of financial prosperity in order to exist? How might interacting with these truths shape your own relationship with scripture?  

  2. Williams writes, “But you soon discover that the Bible is not a single sequence of instructions, beginning, “God says to you…” He adds later, “The Bible is, you might say, God telling us a parable or a whole sequence of parables. God is saying, “This is how people heard me, saw me, responded to me; this is the gist I gave them; this is the response they made … Where are you in this?” How does this shift our engagement with scripture toward prayer and conversation rooted in listening instead of mastering or possessing truth?

  3. Williams writes, “So reading the Bible is about listening to God in Jesus—which is what Christians should be doing in all circumstances anyway.” How might approaching to the Bible as “listening to God in Jesus” provide a way to be able to listen to God in Jesus in all of our interactions with all of creation? Consider spending time prayerfully engaging with this question.


Eucharist: Week of January 21

  1. Williams reminds us the Eucharist means we—all of us—are welcome and wanted guests. He goes on to describe the way Jesus gives and receives hospitality with everyone he meets. In what ways is this challenging? In what ways is it freeing? 

  2. Williams says that this meal is a way to see all of creation—all people, all places, all things—sacramentally. Is there anywhere in your life you have experienced this sacramental way of seeing and receiving the world? Is there anyplace where you feel “stuck” that seeing and receiving the world sacramentally may lead to some new freedom? 

  3. Williams points to the phrase “on the night he was betrayed” as a portion of the Eucharist to remind us this is not a meal for rewarding good behavior, but a meal for those of us who always carry “a capacity to betray.” How might this inclusion of the memory of Christ’s betrayal lead us to a repentance that is full of humility, but free of shame? 


Prayer: Week of January 28th

  1. Have you considered the idea of prayer as being “allowing Jesus to pray in you?” Consider that idea in the lyrics of “Be Thou My Vision” and wonder what having the vision of Jesus might do to your prayers and desires. 

  2. Williams draws from Origen, John Cassian, and Gregory of Nyssa to help us learn from church history to pray. Who did you resonate most with? Who might you add to the list if you were going to describe prayer to someone? Is it a well known person, or maybe someone you know personally? Consider thanking that person or thanking God for that person. 

  3. Williams encourages us to see loving our enemies, forgiving others, and giving possessions away as miracles connected to a life of prayer. Does anything shift for you as you contemplate the miraculous ordinary of justice and mercy?